Just to recap, in case you missed it, a left wing people's party called, "Syriza" has taken power in Greece. This came about as a result of the fiscal austerity programs imposed on it by the other European Union countries - mostly Germany, France, and Britain.
Those countries want Greece to pay back it's debt to the big banks. The Greek people not only put this leftist Syriza party into power, but they also voted by a fairly large margin recently to stick with them and not give in to the austerity plan being foisted upon them. The plan is the latest in a continuing tyranny of plans causing increasing suffering to the Greek people, and dismal economic prospects for the country that would go on for many years, if not decades to come.
Greece is not a leftist country. Maybe 35% of the people would fall in that category. But nothing makes for more leftists like shoving a bunch of formerly middle class people into some serious poverty. So there has been a rapid radicalization of the populous there. Leftists, moderates, conservatives together, taking the brave step of essentially telling the big banks to stuff it.
In the U.S., the middle class is disappearing thanks to hedge funds and bankers playing with junk derivatives causing a mortgage meltdown, high unemployment, and overall financial crisis.
So it comes as no surprise to me that the Socialist Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, is drawing hug crowds at campaign rallies, getting massive quantities of small donors, and is having hundreds of thousands of people offer to help his campaign. I wrote back in September of last year, that as cynicism of government increased, and time passed, people would be more likely to embrace third party and anti-establishment candidates. And sure enough, there's Socialist Bernie Sanders sticking it to the Man by running for President.
Now pundits will tell you Sanders can't win. I didn't believe that in 2008 when they said the same thing about the then junior Senator from Illinois, who just happened to be an African America who grew up in Hawaii, and has "Hussein" as his middle name. The "inevitable candidate" was Hillary Clinton back then too.
The difference is the time. The Great Recession, and the oligarchical creep, that has led to government being more dysfunctional then anytime in US history, combined with it's oligarchical tendency to shove more people into poverty and concentrate the wealth in the top 1/10th of 1% of it's citizens. Essentially having the middle class slip into poverty to provide for the wealthiest amongst us.
Here's the rub: the pundits are still trying to break down the Democratic primary electorate by race and ethnicity, saying there is no way African Americans, Latinos, and Hispanics would vote for a white guy who's Senator from a predominately white state. They are missing it. This election is breaking down by class. People of all races, and ethnicities are suffering financially. And to throw back and inherently Clinton-esque statement back at 'em, "It's the economy, stupid". The campaign slogan has also evolved from candidate Obama's, "Yes, we can!" to candidate Sander's "Enough is enough!" And both those slogans cut across party lines.
The proof will come by way of the Democratic presidential primary, but it will be tested again in Hawaii. Lots of different races, ethnicities, and cultures here, and they will not matter one bit. Why? Because the gap between the cost of living here combined with low wages will come to a head. We have had enough of austerity governors and mayors catering to rich folks and corporations at the expense of the needs of regular people struggling to survive. Let's call them "Reverse Robin Hoods". It may take longer than the mainland, but our Bernie Sanders will arrive (Green Keiko Bonk perhaps?) because at some point the right person with the right message will come at the right time because "enough is enough" here too. Will it come before or after the state and counties declare bankruptcy - that I cannot say, but if I had to guess, being the eternal optimist that I am, I'd say before then. Hope I'm right about that too.